Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-08-12

central, open grass plot with its great ceiba
tree TO the house, were quite clear aud
clean, the people apparently had not been
gone long and were absent in the milpas,
or corn fields. We descended from this
spot by slippery sleeps, the narrow path
being worn into clayey soil by centuries of
travel, and rode through veritable tropi-
cal forest, where the lush vegetation of
this reeking lowland resounded with the
cries of strange birds, as parrots and chach-
didh0s. Less than two leagues through this
teeming fiat country, with lovely streams
gliding over golden shadows beneath tree
ferns, wild bananas and trumpet trees,
brings us TO a broad, deep river, the Rio
Laana, which here divides the state of
Oaxaca from that of Vera Cruz. A dug
out floats near the bank, long and high
rooted hut of grass stands at the edge of
the forest, the owners of which, when we
found them, proved TO he highly intoxicat-
ed. The women Of the hut were sober
enough to grant permission TO swing our
hammOcks to the rafters and TO cook us
something, but the men, shock headed Mes
tlzOs of the Vera Cruz coast eyed us with
suspicion. Here, according to the latest
Interpretation Of the Letters ~ we should
find something to reward us, in the sand Of
the river at least, if not here then our
leaders were at fault, for this was the first
stream of magnitude we had seen with
sandy bottom, and it was on the extreme
eastern verge Of that country inhabited by
the fierce ChinanticOs, who repeed the
Spainards with spears having shafts Of ex-
traordinary leiAyth. The mineralogist skirt
ed the river, dipping out sand occasionally
in shallow basin and washing it, but he
found nothing but it is my opinion that if
he had found anything he wouldn't have
| known it.
1t was peculiarity of the chiefs nature
that he always turned defeat into vic
| tory and when ne saw the last hope Of
gold fade away at the river verge he calm
ly stated his determination u return at
once
1t is my opinion that the country we had
been traversing for the three days past did
| contain rich deposits of gold, and that the
| rivers, even, would yield traces Of it in
| their sands. As has already been limited,
the mineralogist, whose slight acquaintance
was derived solely from books, and upon
whom we entirely depended, did not know
| gold sign when he saw it. And 50, next
morning, We journeyed wearily back 10
Choapan, where our friend the Jcte, Mar
| ianO lbar, received us heartily. He con
doled with US, and said that If Mexican
had been through where We had, he would
have come back cursing his mother and
| denying his country whereas our coOlncss
and indifference were his admiration The
forest we hal passed through, he said, was
the haunt of deer and tiger and it was
wonderful that We lid not see any boas in
the luwland, for they were numerous there,
many Of them over twenty feet in length.
Northeast Of the point at which we struck
the river is "A vast track, thousands Of
acres, Of wild agave, which yield the litd,
| a fibre from SIX TO eight feet long, and
which, being government land, could be
denounced in any quantity. The rarest
| of wood, also such rs rosewood, mahog-
any and satin wood, grew there. But 1t
was as much as ones life was worth to pen
citrate, and reside in, those low lttoral re
| gions, since the fevers there were terrible,
sure to attack n foreigner, and on the coast
itself the rDHitO ragged in all the settled
districts. The only town Of consequence in
the ticrrt cdiieate beyond, was Playa vi
cente, ON large river, where were agents
| of Vera Cruz commercial houses, who
| bought the products Of the interior, as cof
| fee, hides and woods, at very low prices
Don Mariana was gossipy host, and told
US more political secrets than it would do
| To reveal here In this state was the old
stamping ground Of the dreaded Chatto
| DiaZ, the cruel brother Of the President of
! Mexico, who had wantonly killed, accord
| ing to report, the chiefs of seventy two
| municipalities and eleven curdS One time
he was riding through an Indian village
and saw an old man sitting in his doorway :
| drawing his revolver he shot this molten
sive creature dead on the spot, and then
rode on, as though nothing had happened
| Chatto received his reward, long ago, by
| being shot by one of his men but his name
| fingers amongst the hills as that of fend
| incarnate.
| The next day was Sunday and the feast
| Of San Domingo was celebrated by the
ringing of bells and bursting bombs The
| cura came riding in at sunrise, having on
his horse beside him II buxom Mestiza girl
who passed as his niece, but was really his
wife which, explained DR.. Mariana, lis
all right constitutionally, but not good re-
| hgion.'
The people here, in their simple costumes
| frequently in no costume at all-excite
little attention now, though 10 the student
of ethnology they present attractive fea-
| lures. Just before we started, | went down
to the spout, fed by water from spring,
which gushes out of high bank, and there
found a semi-nude woman washing clothes,
and two small boys and girl Of about l6
sitting starked naked under the falling
water.
Our cd,gd mule went lame at Choapam,
and we hired two mo-os to take part of the
luggage, who agreed to carry load apiece
for three days for seven redies about 80
cents) each. These men often make the
journey TO Oaxaca with heavy loads-a dis
lance Of over 100 miles-at five redles each
| drrobd
Two hours distant from Choapam, on the
back trail is Comaltepec, the most pictur-
esque of these Indian towns, set down in
the bend of "A large river that roars
amongst huge boulders and divides the
settlement, with its corn fields, banana,
orange and coffee groves, into two parts.
united by an old pole bridge covered with
IA matched roof Upon the hillsides are
great masses of vines, trumpet trees and
or-plants, above which peer the peaked
roofs of thatch and the stone tower of the
church. There was a procession of the
Virgin, as we entered the village the
members of the band, in white cotton
shirts and open pantaloons, came and knelt
before the image, playing excellent music
for half an hour, then rose and followed
!
ceded by man with "a bell. | was offer
ed candle, and place in the procession,
but declined, without injury to their feel
ings. As | was making a sketch of the
bridge | was interrupted at two different
times by two drunken men, who insisted on
putting their arms around my neck and
talking TO me. The son of one hoped
would excuse his father, as ne meant no
harm, but was very drunk.
That night we had the choice of a ham
mock, a bed and bench the bed fell
to mean old door with a strip of straw
mating over it, laid ON the floor of a cell,
damp, dark and malodorous. As we were
about to start in the morning, it occurred
10 these people to tell us that we couldn't
cross the river without first carrying our
luggage across the bridge of poles, and
swimming the mules over so the saddles
were removed and everything carried to
the other side and when this was accom-
plished it was after 10 O'clock and rain
threatening us out of black clouds. FoI
five hours we toiled upward, finally gain
ing and entering mountain valley with
several towns i'm il. We had passed from
the river bottom 10 the highest town in the
state, Totontepec which lies on a semi-cr-
cular hillside above it towers a great
rock. known as id Mitrd-the Mitre and
in its centre lies a church, of large dimen-
sions, but covered with thatch. The high
est mountain in the state, Zampoaltepetl
is right in sight, its summit days journey
distant
mquiring for the house of a gente de ra
zor, we were directed TO Don Felipe Alcan
tara to whom we applied as one of the two
white men in the hamlet. Don Felipe is q
silversmith, and works out of doors, under
an open shed, with all the glorious noun
tain scenery spread before him. He has
but one room in his dwelling, but he says
"Mi casa estdmuy a en- disposiciones, Sc